The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Goes to Supreme Court

I've italicized the name of the procedure that many Media sources refer to vaguely as 'a certain late term abortion procedure'. The Supreme Court today agreed to review the appeal of a lower court ruling that blocked enforcement of the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2003.

According to LifeNews.com, the outcome of the case could likely turn on the changed make-up of the Supreme Court that occurred within the past year with the Selection of John Roberts as Chief Justice and Samuel Alito as Associate Justice. Alito replaced the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor, who cast the deciding vote overturning a Nebraska state law banning Partial Birth Abortion in 2000.

Responding to the 2000 Supreme Court decision, Congress included a lengthy findings section, detailing the hearings it held on partial-birth abortions, in hopes it would persuade the nation's top court that a health exception is unnecessary.

The findings section cites an American Medical Association convened to study the issue of partial-birth abortions. The expert panel "could not find 'any' identified circumstance" where partial-birth abortion "was 'the only appropriate alternative'" to preserve the health of the mother."

It also indicated partial-birth abortions may pose health risks for women. Such risks include cervical incompetence, trauma to the uterus, and lacerations or hemorrhaging.